Where to stay in Sacramento?

September 2, 2011 11:17 AM

Questions about Sacramento CA neighborhood and best place(s) to stay?

I'll be in Sacramento for a few days next week. I'm completely unfamiliar with the area. I have a room booked at Arden Acres on Clay St. Is anyone familiar with that area? Is it safe at night? Some reviews I read online have me a bit worried but I don't know how accurate they are and am hoping there are some folks here who can enlighten me.

Second part of my question - does anyone have any recommended places to stay while there? Or any places to avoid? (I may be back at a later date depending on circumstances). It'd be nice to walk to cafes/restaurants. Wifi is a plus but not required. Let's pretend cost isn't so much an issue. Many thanks in advance!

posted by moxiequz to Travel & Transportation around Sacramento, CA (8 answers total)

I doubt there's a huge safety concern where you are going to be, but midtown is much nicer in terms of walkability, nice cafes and restaurants, quieter, tree-lined streets, etc. By midtown I mean between downtown Sac and say, Hwy 80, on pretty much any of the letter streets.
posted by serazin at 12:15 PM on September 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well... that's not really the nicest part of town. Del Paso Boulevard is not somewhere I'd really want to be at night, and there's not much to walk to. I would definitely look into staying somewhere else.

If you want to walk to restaurants and things, your best bet is somewhere in midtown. Unfortunately, there aren't that many hotels in Midtown. There are a few expensive ones and a few scummy ones in downtown proper, but nothing truly midrange.

The Citizen is really nice, but it's $175 a night.

The Inn Off Capitol Park is all right, and it's near a lot of good stuff.

If you wanna be weird, you can stay on the Delta King riverboat. Note: In Old Sacramento, not Midtown.

This Best Western is tolerable, as long as you walk southeast.
posted by elsietheeel at 1:16 PM on September 2, 2011

yeah Del Paso and El Camino is a pretty rough part of town. I wouldn't stay there personally.
posted by AltReality at 1:47 PM on September 2, 2011

The location of the Arden Acres is marginal. It is off El Camino, which in that area, is used car lots and light industrial. The neighborhood degrades fast as you move west, and is pretty seedy west of Del Paso Blvd.

Better choices of hotels in the same area of town:
Red Lion, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA
Double Tree, 2001 Point West Way, Sacramento, CA
Hilton Sacramento/Arden, 2200 Harvard Street, Sacramento, CA

I have lived in the Sacramento area for over 25 years. Write me directly if you would like more help: [e-mail]
posted by gnossos at 1:49 PM on September 2, 2011

I love downtown/midtown, but is the trip for business or pleasure? If you have appointments or other business in the north area, you may want to avoid making the trip from downtown/midtown to the north area during rush hour.

If the trip is for pleasure, definitely downtown/midtown.

A quick Google of "midtown Sacramento bed and breakfast" got me the following, which all sound nice (but I personally have not stayed at any of them):
Amber House Bed and Breakfast (www.amberhouse.com), 1315 22nd Street, Sacramento
Vizcaya Pavilion & Mansion, 2019 21st Street, Sacramento
The Inn & Spa at Parkside (www.innatparkside.com), 2116 6th Street, Sacramento
The Delta King Hotel (www.deltaking.com), 1000 Front Street, Sacramento (in Old Sacramento - much more touristy).

There are other bed and breakfasts in the midtown area as well.

However, the same Google search also got the following, which I would probably avoid:
Rodeway Inn Capitol, 817 West Capitol Avenue, West Sacramento
Super 8, 216 Bannon Street, Sacramento
Days Inn Downtown, 228 Jibboom Street, Sacramento.

I would avoid the Motel 6 at 1415 30th Street, because of the loud topless bar next door. Actually, there are several downtown/midtown motels to avoid in the area of 16th Street.

The are some nice hotels in the area of the State Capitol (Sheraton Grand, Hyatt Regency), which cater to legislators, lobbyists, and convention-goers, walking distance to the Capitol Park, cafes/restaurants, etc.
posted by easilyamused at 1:53 PM on September 2, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks all for the answers so far!

but is the trip for business or pleasure? If you have appointments or other business in the north area

Ah, it's a bit of both. A family member is having surgery at Kaiser on Morse Ave early on Sept 6th (7am for check-in) at which point they'll stay in the hospital afterwards. I'll be sticking around the area for 3 or so days depending on their condition/recovery. So after the first night it'll just be me and I won't be on any set schedule.
posted by moxiequz at 2:18 PM on September 2, 2011

Yeah, that place is odd. I'd never heard of it and I lived in Sac for 18 years. It looks like it's essentially trailer park. It isn't the nicest part of town, and there is essentially nothing to walk to in the immediate area. There is the Arden Fair Mall not far down the street, but it's a pretty standard mall and I wouldn't really walk to it late at night.

Like the other folks mention, Midtown is where you want to hang out. The smaller places Downtown and in Midtown are nicer, but there are lots of places to stay near 16th and J - the Sheraton, The Citizen, The Hyatt, the Residence Inn and so on.

Look at WalkScore.com to see what's nearby.
posted by cnc at 2:28 PM on September 2, 2011

Depending on what you mean by "walking distance," The Governor's Inn is about a mile from Old Sacramento, and pretty cheap despite decent service and interior, WiFi, included breakfast, etc. They have a free, on-demand shuttle to the airport, too. You can even walk to there along the river. It's situated near a number of cheap motels, if that's what you're looking for.

For restaurants, can I recommend Aïoli? They have a terrible, unusable website, but you can read about them on Yelp. Very good tapas, warm service and really good wine list by the glass. About 1.5 miles from Old Sacramento.
posted by wnissen at 7:31 AM on September 3, 2011